Thomas Becket: life of week
Thomas Becket is probably medieval England's most famous martyr and saint – yet the circumstances of his life are overshadowed by his infamous feud with King Henry II, and his shocking murder in Cante...
25 Mar 202551min
Why Africa's history is more than just the slave trade
Has our focus on the impact of the transatlantic slave trade blinded us to the diversity and complexity of Africa's past? That's one of the arguments at the heart of Luke Pepera's new book Motherland,...
24 Mar 202538min
The Great Stink: everything you wanted to know
Why, in the 1850s, was the excrement of thousands of people being deposited straight into the Thames? How lethal were Victorian London's cholera outbreaks? And why is Joseph Bazalgette one of the most...
23 Mar 202540min
Handel's Messiah: the scandalous birth of a classical masterpiece
Even if you're not a fan of classical music, chances are you will have heard Handel's Messiah. Going behind the scenes of its creation, Charles King delves into the shifting politics of the Hanoverian...
21 Mar 202539min
Women killers of the early modern era
From true crime pamphlets to reports from the scaffold, early modern Britain was gripped by tales of women who killed. But were these cases as common as they seemed, or was something else at play? Spe...
19 Mar 202534min
Rosa Luxemburg: life of the week
While the Suffragettes were fighting to win the vote, over in Germany, Rosa Luxemburg was focused on overthrowing the entire system. A committed Marxist revolutionary and a fervent advocate of interna...
18 Mar 202549min
Women's hidden role in religious reformation
The histories of religious reformations across the globe have largely focused on men. But women were also integral to these major transformations. Speaking with Emily Briffett, historian Merry Wiesner...
17 Mar 202543min
The history of British homes: everything you wanted to know
What was history's worst furnishing trend? Why, in 1953, were you more likely to own a television than a fridge? And how can you learn more about the history of your own house? Deborah Sugg Ryan joins...
16 Mar 202548min
